.NET 6 Minimal APIs: First Look

.NET 6 introduces “Minimal APIs”, a stripped-down approach to building HTTP APIs without the ceremony of Controllers, Filters, or `Startup.cs`.

Four Lines of Code

var builder = WebApplication.CreateBuilder(args);
var app = builder.Build();

app.MapGet("/", () => "Hello World");

app.Run();

Parameter Binding

It infers binding from route, query, or body automatically.

app.MapPost("/todos", (Todo todo, MyDbContext db) =>
{
    db.Todos.Add(todo);
    return Results.Created($"/todos/{todo.Id}", todo);
});

Key Takeaways

• Minimal APIs are **faster** than Controllers (less reflection overhead).
• You can still use DI, Auth, and Validation.
• Great for microservices where you only have 2-3 endpoints.